Shingles Help this is misery
Posted , 4 users are following.
I been at the shingles game a month. My rash has been healed well over a week and a half and I've been in misery. During the day my mind stays busy and I can deal with the persistent itching burning, but at night I literally am miserable. I take melatonin and ibuprofen pm and nothing helps me sleep. My side and back burn like crazy and have an itching sensation that is unreal. When I lay down it feels like bugs are clawing on the inside of my skin. I do not sleep (hence me posting this at 4:25 AM). I use cold compresses which help for a few minutes but I am at a loss as to what to do. Literally I am going crazy ... it's a horrible feeling that is so hard to describe ! Please any help would be appreciated!
1 like, 5 replies
beth97678 jennleajack
Posted
Hi Jennleajack, So sorry you're having this -and at night it certainly feels worse,when everyone else is sound asleep..I can empathise somewhat.I started with shingles on April 25 and it hasn't quite finished with me yet.The nerve meds really did help,but didn't quite get rid of the pain entirely.Just in the last few days have I experienced what you are feeling at the moment-the burning,itching/crawling sensations(which are certainly preferable to the lancing/barbed wire pains I've had for the last 3 months
.I had an antiviral within a couple of days of shingles starting and was prescribed pregabalin x150 (the newer version of gabapentin) .I have also bought L-Lysine 1000mg (too big to swallow,so I crunch it)-and I really think it is helping .Others on this forum have found it beneficial.I haven't tried the cold compresses,but others here have found it helps a lot.You could ask your GP to give you Amitriptyline,which is another nerve-dampening drug,usually taken at night ,as it makes you drowsy.I hope this helps you a bit.Others on here are more knowledgeable than I am.But keep your hopes up-if you are itching,it usually means the shingles is on it's way out.I'm hoping so anyway !
x Beth
Nicwhit jennleajack
Posted
So sorry - many of us have been there at different times. I haven't tried the nerve meds but may do so soon as I have other diabetic related neuropathy. What works for me in a limited way when I have shingles pain full on is taking the maximum dose of cocodomol or other codeine and paracetamol combination. I limit how long I take this for but it has been for over a month until the pain subsides a lot. I have tried Lysine and diet which didn't control the attacks for me so I now take a suppressive dose of Acyclovir 400mg X 3 daily. Not sure how that will work - a lower dose was successful for a while but not now. Good luck with your search for relief.
clive63734 jennleajack
Posted
I found a product called E45 Anti Itch cream it I used it on my forehead and eyelid but just be careful not to get it in your eyes.Also ask your doctor for a blood test for vitamin B12 or Iron as I also used to walk the floor at night suffering from my arms which seemed to be a tinging sensation in both arms and the only way I could get any relief was to violently shake both arms.the concusion was I had a lack of Vitamin B12 and that stopped it altogether.
I hope this is of sme help to you
Clive
jennleajack
Posted
Thanks so much for the help! I did get the antiviral medication. I have been percribed a gamete of pain medication which is zero help. The burning and thing is indescribable. I will try lysine. Have any of y'all tried a pain management doctor? Luckily I'm off in the summer because I am uncertain how y'all function at work !
beth97678 jennleajack
Posted
Jennleajack
I really don't know how you're continuing to work .I'm a carer for my daughter,but a lot of the time since the shingles started,it's me who has needed the help.Luckily I have good friends.
Pain medication which is opiate based ,or any other ,like paracetamol or ibuprofen won't surpress shingles much-you have to have nerve meds which are usually Pregabalin,(Lyrica)Tegretol(carbemazepine) and Amitriptyline.I'd give L-lysine a few weeks to show any effect on the body.I haven't seen a doctor in a pain clinic,but I have been to the Walton Centre in Liverpool with my daugter,as she has Trigeminal Neuralgia (an MRI scan showed an artery looped over a major nerve in her face,causing her a lot of nerve -based pain) and there,they prescribed the drugs I've mentioned above-usually in conjunction with each other,titrating the doses of each upwards so the patient gets the best pain relief from the mix.and the fewest side-effects.It can be a slow process getting the doses of each just right and some don't suit everybody-you just have to remember to wean any of these drugs off slowly rather than just stop.
X Beth